How to care for a cocker as a spaniel: English and American
Coker care as a spaniel is not particularly difficult. Compliance with the rules of detention, feeding will help the dog preserve health and remain in excellent physical form throughout life. American Cocker Spaniel holder of a balanced nature. He is characterized by a loyal, good-natured attitude towards strangers. The English cocker spaniel, when comparing it with relatives, is more active. He loves when he is paid attention to. More dependent on the family, suffers from a lack of communication.
Conditions of cocker content
Both the English and the American Cocker Spaniel are considered apartment dogs, despite their hunting origin. Life on the street, as well as the content in the aviary or on the chain, is not for them.
Coker loves to be in the fresh air, life in rural areas with a spacious house territory will have to like it. But in the city, in a small city apartment, the cocker will feel excellent, you just need to devote more time for walking.
To take care of the cocker as a spaniel, it is not required to be a specialist, the breed is unpretentious.
Living in a private house, you can equip an insulated booth on the street: the spaniel in the warm season will feel comfortable in the fresh air. The conuer is installed in a dry, well-lit place. The booth with a sloping roof is preferable. This will not allow water to flow into the dwelling of the dog. A street sunbed for a booth is made of straw, changed as necessary.
Care and maintenance in the apartment are simple. A place for a cocker is chosen closer to the owner. A special sunbed for a pet is placed in a place where there are no drafts and dampness. It is desirable that the dog can view the maximum territory of the room from its place.
It is necessary to accustom the puppy to its place from the first days of stay in the house. Initially, the baby will ask for the owner’s bed, but it is necessary to show endurance and character so that the puppy immediately learn who is the main one in the house.
The spaniel cocker, made from an old basket with a blanket bedding in it, will be a good option for the first days. Later, when the dog grows up, you can purchase a special sunbed in pet stores for sleeping and relaxing cocker.
Walking
The English Cocker Spaniel, like his fellow American, loves long walks, is glad to run in any weather.
An adult cocker needs walking twice a day for a day and a half to two hours.
But do not be on the street in rainy weather for more than half an hour. For walking, you need a long roulette leash. You can’t let the dog go: the cocker can chase the cat, following his hunting instincts, and the screams of the owner will not stop him. Closed sites or aviaries are suitable for free walking.
The cocker should get used to the leash since childhood. The collar for the puppy is selected so that two fingers are placed between it and the baby’s neck. As it grows, it changes to larger size. The collar for the cocker should be wide, light and muffle. Textiles or soft leather products are suitable. Shleki to the dog of this breed are contraindicated.
On a walk, the puppy can get tired. Nothing bad will happen if the owner takes him in his hands and takes a certain distance.
Up to six months of age, the joints and bones of the skeleton are formed in cockers. They do not allow to climb and go down the stairs, jump over the barriers and jump from a height.
It is important to remember that it is allowed to walk a dog in public places only in a muzzle and a short leash.
Feeding
The English Cocker Spaniel, like the American Cocker, is unpretentious in food. He is able to eat everything. In order for the dog to live a long and full life, its diet must be balanced, taking into account activity.
Puppy feeding
The feeding of the spaniel cocker at a certain time and in a strictly designated place will accustom it to the regime and order.
Until two months of age, the baby is fed six times a day. From two to four months, the number of feedings is four to five times. By the six months of the grown puppy, you can feed three to four times. By ten months of age, the pet is transferred to two meals a day. And this regime remains constant.
Feeding an adult dog
There is an opinion of some breeders that an adult cocker can be fed once a day. It is worth refuting such a theory. The dog’s diet is best divided into two equal portions and feed in the morning and evening, with an equal temporary interval. With this scheme, nutrients enter the body evenly.
Coker is prone to gluttony. It is necessary to control the appetite.
Bathing
To keep the dog cleanly, it is not necessary to bathe with each pollution. It is enough to comb regularly with a soft brush. If you bathe often using detergents, the dog may have skin itching, peeling. Shampoo and soap destroy the fat layer, which naturally protects the skin from dirt, moisture. This is especially true for puppies up to six months.
You can bathe a puppy using a shampoo of your own preparation, consisting of kefir or yogurt, egg yolk and warm water. Such a composition will not damage the protective layer. If the pet is stained, and the dirt cannot be washed with a home remedy, then shampoo for lon g-haired dogs is used. It is diluted with warm water in a proportion of 1: 1.
Paws and ears are washed at every return to the house. To this procedure, you need to accustom a puppy from an early age.
Wool care
The chic coker wool requires an attentive attitude. Gruming Care for English Cocker Spaniel is more easy than caring for an American cocker. The Englishman has no wool as a lip as an American. Therefore, the haircut of the English cocker will differ from the haircut of the American. Otherwise, the differences are invisible.
How to care for wool: independently or with the help of a groomer, depends on the skills of the owner. It is better for a beginner to go through the first care measures in the cabin. Subsequent manipulations can be performed independently, having an idea of proper care.
Wool care includes the following points:
- Combing and combing.
- Timely haircut.
- Trimming as necessary.
A haircut
The main standards of spaniel haircuts in a comparative table.
| American cocker | English cocker | |
| Head | Shortly shaved wool on the skull and upper neck. The upper third of the ear, the cheeks are also shaved, like part of the muzzle around the eyes. | Shortly trimmed wool, without bangs. |
| The body | The wool on the back is cut as short as possible, the entire undercoat is removed. The upper part of the neck and back are stripping. A machine is used to cut the tail. | In the chest area, the hair is cut short;a triangular section is left untouched above the chest;on the croup, wool is trimmed;the area around the anus is cut very short in the shape of a quadrangle. |
| Legs | The limbs are not subject to shearing. Only paw pads are trimmed. | On the forelimbs, the hair is cut short in front and on the sides, long hair is left behind. Hindquarters: The upper part of the thigh remains covered with long hair. From the hock to the paw, the coat is cut as short as possible. |
Combing
Cocker needs to be combed daily. After all, not only the appearance of the dog depends on how to care for the coat. When combing, dead hairs are removed, the skin receives a kind of massage, blood circulation improves, and metabolism accelerates.
It is necessary to accustom a dog to a comb from puppyhood, then this procedure will be a pleasure for both the owner and the pet.
Ear care
Spaniel ears need special care. Long ears are poorly ventilated, therefore they are prone to fungal diseases and inflammatory processes. It is necessary to clean the ears from sulfur and dirt once every 2-3 days, using a damp cotton swab. Clean the outside of the ear canal. You can’t get deep inside – you can damage the delicate ear of the cocker.
In spring and summer, the main problem is ticks. If the pet behaves restlessly, shakes its head, tries to scratch its ears with its paws, then a tick has appeared there.
A daily inspection of the inner and outer parts of the ear surface is necessary.
Timely removed parasites will not be able to penetrate deep into the ear canal.
The long ears of the Cocker Spaniel collect all the garbage, especially the burdock. If a walk in the forest is ahead, the dog is put on a special cap for the ears of a spaniel. This will make grooming easier.
Dental care
To teach a puppy to examine and brush his teeth from an early age, he is taught the “Show teeth” command. This will come in handy when the dog starts participating in exhibitions, because a dental checkup is a necessary item.
Dental care is carried out regularly once a week, starting from the age of six months, after the complete change of milk teeth to permanent ones.
To do this, with the help of a soft toothbrush and toothpaste for dogs, brush your teeth with gentle movements. Soft plaque on the teeth can be removed with a cotton swab dipped in water. But tartar storage container in dogs is difficult to remove on their own. For this procedure, contact a veterinarian. The formation of tartar is dangerous because it can cause inflammatory gum disease.
As a natural cleaning of the teeth, the spaniel is offered to gnaw on large bones and cartilage. Keeping your teeth healthy and healthy is essential to keeping your pet healthy.
Eye care
Daily care consists in cleaning the inner corner of the eyes from dried crusts. Using a slightly damp cotton pad, wipe the eyes with light movements in the direction from the outer corner to the inner. To clean the second eye take a new disc.
Nail care
If the dog is often on the street, then grinding of the claws occurs naturally. Special care is not required. If the pet spends his whole life indoors, then the grown claws are shortened with a nail cutter or special tongs. A claw that is too long can cause anxiety for the pet.
Puppy care
Features of the content and care include the training of a dog friend of the basics of dressing and education. Classes should be regular, timely, take place in the game environment. Care for a puppy and education is a long and painstaking work. The owner’s tolerance and personal contact contribute to the speedy success in working out and consolidating skills.
Accustoming to the toilet
One of the problems that the owner faces with the advent of a pet is how to accustom a puppy to register natural needs. At first, while the cocker is small and there are no planned vaccinations, it is forbidden to go out. It is not difficult to accustom spaniel to the toilet.
Having discovered a site where the dog most often does its dirty deeds, the place is covered with newspapers or a disposable medical diaper. These porous materials quickly absorb pollution. Noticing that the puppy begins to sniff, behave uneasily, the baby should be attributed to this place. Not everything will turn out the first time, most likely, the puppy will want to run away. At this moment, it is worth showing perseverance and ensuring that it recovers in the place.
A small cocker will quickly learn a diaper if, after eating and sleeping, it is attributed to the toilet. Be sure to praise the puppy after he recovered to the right place.
Spaniel puppy at the age of 3 months can already go out onto the street. It happens that getting used to the diaper, the dog does not want to recover on the street. In this case, you need to take stained newspapers out into the street, thus letting what the cocker should do.
Coker are rather clean animals. Difficulties in teaching spaniel to the toilet should not appear. An exception may be the dog emotionally unbalanced. He is able to urinate from fear or from joy. In this case, you need to contact the veterinarian. Perhaps it is worthwhile to reconsider the attitude of the owner to the dog: in case of cruelty, the dog can do its dirty deeds in spite of a person.
Taking a learning learning
Another significant moment is in education and care – how to teach a cocker to walk on a leash. The breed is characterized by increased activity, and an adult dog that does not know how to walk on a leash can cause many unpleasant moments to the owner in the future. Before going out into the street, the command “Walk! ” Is given in the voice, then the leash is fastened.
You can not allow the puppy to bite the leash or use it for games. If the puppy is opposed to go on a leash, it is worth attracting his attention with a treat, forcing him to move in the right direction.
After a walk, the leash is unfastened, and the collar remains on the neck. Be sure to encourage a treat after a successful walk.
Puppy training
Features of training of a cocker puppy consist in feasible loads. The kid is constantly in motion, it is difficult for him to sit still for a long time. The educational process takes place for spaniel in a playful way, and a short time.
Physical punishment is categorically not allowed. Coker are touchy by nature.
The pet does not fulfill the command not because he does not want, but because he cannot understand what they want from him. The method of encouraging the delicacy of a correctly executed command will accelerate the learning process.
Health
The presence of mandatory planned vaccinations will protect the pet from deadly diseases, such as plague, rabies.
Coker spaniel at 2 months of age should undergo processing from worms. Repeated procedures are carried out in 3, 6 and 12 months.
At the frequency of once every three months, the cocker conducts vitamins for dog wool. The composition must have phosphorus, calcium, fluorine.
Care for an elderly cher
The average life span of cockers is 11-12 years. By the age of 9, the animals’ eyesight deteriorates, hearing decreases. The elasticity of the ligaments is no longer the same as in a young animal, the bones become brittle. Walks become more relaxed. The owner may have to lift the dog in his arms in order to overcome flights of stairs. After all, such a task for an aging dog becomes difficult to accomplish.
To maintain the vital activity of a pet, multivitamin complexes for aging dogs are used. The ration is also subject to revision. It is recommended to purchase food for older animals.
Knowing how to care for an American or English Cocker will help you raise a healthy and active pet that will delight its owner.
No Comments